Submit completed Certification Pack

A producer planning the conversion of a farm from conventional or organic to Biodynamic should start the process by requesting a Certification Pack from the Demeter office. The Certification Pack includes the initial application, which asks for explanation regarding the past management of the land to be certified, and the proposed plan to move towards Demeter certification. This document is updated annually as a renewal, and is thereafter referred to as the Farm Plan.

It is recommended, but not required, that new applications be submitted prior to April 1 so that the farm inspection can to be planned and conducted during the growing season.

Arrange a farm visit

After Demeter receives the completed Certification Pack and appropriate fees the application is reviewed and assigned to an inspector who will contact the applicant to arrange a farm visit. During the visit, the information entered on the application will be verified and clarified.

Follow up on Summary Report recommendations

The Inspector’s report and findings, along with the grower’s application, will be circulated to members of the Evaluation Circle (EC) to recommend or not recommend certification along with requirements and recommendations. The Demeter office will then notify the applicant of the certification decision and forward a list of suggested actions/requirements. The applicant is required to acknowledge this Evaluation Circle Decision and Summary Report and to sign off on acceptance of the requirements. If certification is not granted, an explanation will be provided.

A licensee wishing to amend the scope of an existing certification should write to the Demeter office giving details in support of the request. The Demeter office will decide what additional information is needed, if any. A revisit to the facility may be required.

Annual Renewal of Certification

Following the first year’s certification, Demeter sends out a Renewal Packet annually. A farm must have its certification renewed every year. Certification is contingent upon the receipt of a fully filled-out Renewal Packet, including an updated Farm Report, and the completion of a satisfactory on-site farm evaluation conducted during the growing season. Farmers must have resolved any issues found to be out-of-compliance at that time.

The Renewal Packet includes a declaration by the farmer, given in good faith and to the best of his/her knowledge, concerning the completeness and correctness of information supplied. Any anticipated changes in agricultural management, or any measures that could have a significant influence on the farm as a whole, must be discussed with Demeter.

The first Farm Standard was written in Germany in 1928 following Rudolf Steiner’s Agriculture Course.  Its purpose was to codify what Steiner had presented in his lectures and ensure its adherence through a strict certification program.   The Farm Standard is historically significant because it dates back to the beginning of the modern sustainable farming movement, and captures key agronomic principles not comprehensively addressed within any other agriculture certification system. Here in the United States, it provides the legal definition of “Biodynamic” through the certification mark.

Sections of the Farm Standard include necessary elements of the farm organism, soil fertility management, crop protection, greenhouse management, animal welfare, and the use of the preparations.  Biological diversity within the farm landscape is emphasized, and requires that a minimum of ten percent of the total farm acreage be set-aside as a biodiversity preserve.  That may include but is not limited to forests, wetlands, riparian corridors, and intentionally planted insectaries.  Diversity in crop rotation and perennial planting is required: no annual crop can be planted in the same field for more than two years in succession.  Bare tillage year round is prohibited so land needs to maintain adequate green cover. 

The Farm Standard instructs that the foundation of the fertility system, and strategies for disease, insect, and weed control, must originate from the farm itself.  Fertility is generated via the integration of livestock, compost and green manure, nutrient catch crops, and careful crop rotation.  Disease and insect control are addressed through botanical species diversity, predator habitat, balanced crop nutrition, and attention to light penetration and airflow.   Weed control emphasizes prevention, including timing of planting, mulching, and identifying and avoiding the spread of invasive weed species. 

The use of the preparations is a requirement of the Farm Standard.  There are nine in all, made from herbs, mineral substances and animal manures, that are utilized in field sprays and compost inoculants applied in minute doses, much like homeopathic remedies are for humans.  Timely applications revitalize the soil and stimulate root growth, enhance the development of microorganisms and humus formation, and aid in photosynthetic activity.

The crops resulting from a certified Biodynamic farm are themselves certified (for example Biodynamic tomatoes), but in order to produce a certified processed product  (for example pasta sauce) the product must be produced in accordance with the Demeter Biodynamic® Processing Standard.  There are sixteen different processing standard categories (compared to one for the entire National Organic Program), including wine, cheese, olive oil, dairy and body care.  The Processing Standard is very important because it guarantees an unbroken chain of accountability from the farm to the finished product, and delivers a product that allows for the integrity and purity of the agricultural ingredients to define it.

Demeter is the owner of the trademark terms “Biodynamic®” and “Demeter®”. These trademarks are held as certification marks, which provide an assurance to consumers that the product has been certified to a uniform standard. Demeter holds these marks, and is therefore solely responsible for ensuring their adherence, to protect the integrity of Biodynamic agriculture and the products that result, both for consumers and for farmers. One only needs to think about the history of organic here in the United States, and the marketplace pressures that led to the erosion of its definition, to understand the importance of protecting such a comprehensive and historically significant agronomic system.

Requirements for certification are articulated in the Demeter Farm and Processing Standards. In order for a commercial farm or agricultural- based product to legally use the term in reference to its farm or products, it must have obtained certification through Demeter, and be re-certified every year.

Since Biodynamic farming principally views the farm as a self- contained organism only an entire farm will be considered for certification.  Individual fields or crops cannot be certified.  More than one farm may be counted as a single certification unit under certain conditions.

Each farm is considered a unique individuality- with its own beginning point and inherited environmental and social conditions.  What is critical is that a farm evolves towards its maximum potential as a self-contained individuality.  Some applicants’ farms may enter this program very close to this maximum potential.  Others will require an evolution towards it.  While Demeter is here to provide assurance that the Farm and Processing Standards are met, it is also here to nurture farmers and their farms towards this ideal. 

Prerequisites

The land to be certified must meet the National Organic Program (NOP) standard as a base and managed to the Demeter Biodynamic® Farm Standard for one year, either concurrently with the final NOP transition year or an additional year after the NOP standard has been met.  No prohibited chemicals may have been applied for a full 36 months.  Demeter may request residue tests for prohibited materials.

Any processing and/or packaging facilities on the farm or contracted by the grower must be included in the farm certification process and an additional questionnaire and an inspection of the facilities will be required. 

Exemptions to whole-farm certification

If any crops or land belonging economically to a farm cannot be farmed according to the Farm Standard because of serious technical considerations, then exceptions of particular fields, animals or products need the written consent of Demeter.  Such not-fully-converted products must be clearly separated from the converted fields, animals, or products, and no interchange should be possible.  Such crops, animals and products have to be specifically indicated on the application for certification and specified on the certificate.  They must be clearly labeled and easily distinguished in farm sales, whether direct or through distributors.  Parallel production is not possible underthe same farm identity.

Newly Acquired Property

When a Demeter certified Biodynamic® farm leases or purchases land that has been managed conventionally or organically, these acres must also be converted. Existing farm certification is not forfeited, but crops from the transitional areas are to be of a different variety, demonstrably separated in storage, and designated under another name and sold as non-certified.

A farm may be considered “in conversion” under the following circumstances:

1. The farm has submitted an application
2. A Demeter inspector has been to the property and judged it able to obtain certification within a three year period and an inspection report has been issued qualifying the farm for “in conversion” status
3. There is a projected date of certification (month/year)
4. If the farm in already NOP certified, the Demeter certification should take place one year from the date of the qualifying inspection, with an allowance of 3 months in addition to the year.
5. If the farm is not already NOP certified, then Demeter retains the right to conduct yearly inspections up to the three-year date of certification in order to ascertain that the Farm Standard is being upheld. The final inspection must take place within 3 years and 3 months of the qualifying inspection.

Once a farm has passed its qualifying inspection it is considered a Member of Demeter. The farm may refer to itself as “in conversion” in its marketing materials, website, and other ways that are not product labeling or at the point of sale to the consumer.

In order for fresh produce to be referred to as “in conversion” in product labeling or point of purchase presentation, it must be shown to meet the NOP standard and harvested after the “in conversion” status has been granted. If the produce meets the “in conversion” requirements, the “in conversion” logo may be used on the produce’s package and POS.

Processed products created from “in conversion” produce may never refer to itself as an “in conversion” product and no reference to Demeter or Biodynamic may be made on the product packaging or POS.

Demeter Biodynamic Certification Fee Schedule

Animals are a crucial element of a Biodynamic farm, and in addition to their obvious contribution to a farm’s fertility, their care and welfare are given extensive consideration.  Housing must allow animals to move freely and protect them from heat, dust, excess humidity, and harmful gasses such as ammonia.  Poultry cages are prohibited, every animal must be given a dry, soft and insulated spot where it can lie down and rest, and access to free range forage and the outdoors is required.  De-horning, de-beaking, and wing clipping of poultry are prohibited, as is tail cutting of piglets and docking of lambs.  Homeopathic remedies in place of vaccines are strongly recommended, and the use of antibiotics is prohibited.  If an animal is being raised for the sale of meat, eggs or milk, a minimum of one- half of its feed must come from the farm, and the remainder must be Demeter certified (minimum of 80% of the total ration) or NOP certified organic (no more than 20% of the ration).

Musings on Biodynamic® Cows, Their Horns, and the Evolution of the Earth

By Jim Fullmer

Have you ever wondered why cows have horns…?  It’s a most important question.  What happens in the places where the hooves and the horns are growing? A locality is created where the incoming stream of forces is particularly strong.  Rudolf Steiner- Agriculture course –lecture 4

Biodynamic ruminant production is an interesting proposition. It has its roots in the idea that a farm can be a holistic, regenerative, and self regulating system. So first off one needs to have a focus on the contribution of these meditative critters to farm system as a whole. They graze it, cycling the vegetation ruminated towards enlivened soil humus. The Demeter Farm Standard specifies that at least 1/2 of the feed has to come from the farm where the ruminants reside and 80% of it has to be Biodynamic. From a farm management perspective this creates the opportunity to cycle carbon/fertility on farm, not only from the manure produced but also the contribution of sod to a farms crop rotation, as this is a phase where, sans tillage, soil humus can be significantly developed and carbon sequestered.

For North Americans take the example of the relationship between the Bison and the native prairies upon which they roamed, a region that stretched from Canada down to Mexico.  Very fertile soils were built based on this relationship. Photosynthesis is an interaction between the Earth and the Sun. The process of photosynthesis that begot the vegetation the Bison consumed along with what transpired between the Bison and the predators that regularly herded them, yielded humus, and lots of it. As we know humus holds 90% of the water of a saturated atmosphere (such as rain), it holds onto crop nutrients, cycles nitrogen and there is a yet to be discovered universe to be found in the living processes that follow the native process of ruminants massaging the Earth with their mouths. One reason that integrating livestock back into diverse cropping systems, and out of the CAFO’s, is a principle of the US Demeter Farm Standard is an attempt at bio-mimicry. The relationship between the Earth, ruminants grazing it, and the Sun is an ancient principle inherent to the organic functioning of the Earth herself. The goal is to recognize and utilize this in Biodynamic farm management.

Enter to that equation the horn… Biodynamic ruminants have horns- what’s that about? Cattle themselves have a long lineage back in evolutionary time of Ungulates that includes other horned ruminants such as goats, antelopes and giraffes. Native cattle such the Bison, Yak and Auroch have lineage to the Earth’s evolutionary DNA, void of human intervention.  All were with horns. The horn itself is not just an auxiliary growth of bone protruding from the skull. On the contrary the horn is a condensed protrusion of the skin. The bone grows into it forming a boney core that is penetrated by blood cells, furnished with nerves and containing internal air spaces that develop and connect with the sinus cavities and literally the breath of the cow herself. Cattle evolved with blood filled, sentient horns that played a key role in the function and evolution of the species. In Biodynamic agriculture this matters.

Needless to say the process of dehorning is a traumatic one. This is the removal of a blood filled, sentient organ literally connected to the sinus cavities of the animal itself and is not permitted in Biodynamic certification. Cattle have been bred to be without horns (polled). Certifying polled animals Biodynamic also is not currently permitted in the Demeter Standard.  This is an interesting on going conversation. There are some existing commercial beef breeds, such as Angus,  that are the result of being genetically polled by human breeding close to 1000 years ago. There currently also is a strong movement towards applying CRISPR technology to breeding polled dairy cattle (something that clearly would not be permitted in Biodynamic production).  Lots to consider in this discussion. Regardless where the conversation on polled cattle goes core to the philosophy of Biodynamic agriculture is the idea that this blood filled sentient organ (the horn) functions as a “locality where the incoming stream of forces is particularly strong”, core to the inherent being of a cow and its relation to the land where it resides.

Those who have traveled in Europe may have noticed when crossing the countryside that many of the cows seen grazing the truly pastoral scenery have horns. In North America such as sight is much more rare, unless one is fortunate to be passing a Biodynamic farm. Particularly in the North American organic dairy reality the fact that Biodynamic dairy cows need to have horns poses an interesting challenge to organic dairy folks that might ponder transition to a Biodynamic system. Horns on dairy cattle play a key role in the social arrangement of the herd. Cows will exhibit such social engagement with or without horns but cows in settings not designed to support the fact the herd has horns have difficulty thriving. The infra-structure of barns, holding areas, milking parlors etc. has to be developed with the space and flow considerations of a horned herd. A horned herd that has the space and the management focus to allow the species to play out its own inherent bovine character can exist and thrive just fine. On the contrary its difficult to try to stuff a horned herd into an infrastructure designed for hornless cows.

Those that have existed with cows, in particular, in their life may have noticed that they are truly sweet and meditative animals- inwardly focused in a big way via the process of rumination (“A locality is created where the incoming stream of forces is particularly strong”…).  Happy cows, eating grass, as they should, spend a fair amount of time in a deep contemplative state known as rumination. They lie there chewing their cud, which is this amazing process of chomping consumed vegetation with their Earth laden mouths as it is also being inoculated with native generated microbial life with a strong kinship to the Earthly process of decaying the results of photosynthesis back to humus. Truly an amazing process.

By Dan Kent, Executive Director, Salmon Safe

Working with vineyards and farms across the salmon watersheds of the Pacific Northwest over the last fifteen years, we see a lot of farming methodologies in action. Walking these Salmon-Safe farms over the years, we witness land transformed. Streamside restoration, re-establishment of native vegetation and hedgerows, changing cropping systems to minimize irrigation water use, and cover crops to control erosion all establish a more productive farming system where wild nature–including native salmon–can thrive.

As we survey this West Coast farmscape that we call “salmon nation,” some of the most ecologically functional farms we see are Biodynamic, those farms already aligned with Salmon-Safe principles related to exceptional watershed stewardship and the integration of on-farm native habitat. That makes sense given that Demeter’s vision is to ‘heal our planet through agriculture.’ Here in Oregon, these farms include longtime Salmon-Safe vineyards that also have been leaders in Demeter certification. These winegrowers, including Cooper Mountain and Brick House, kept asking us, “how about joining forces with Demeter?”

Founded by river and native fish protection organization Pacific Rivers Council, Salmon-Safe was one of the first regional eco-labels in the late nineties, primarily certifying vineyard management on steep slopes above Oregon’s Willamette River. Now Salmon-Safe is an independent environmental nonprofit working across agricultural and urban land management from British Columbia through northern California. Salmon-Safe works with organic farmers as well as growers using rigorous integrated pest management. Either way, Salmon-Safe works to inspire techniques that restore sensitive habitats including streams and wetlands, promote irrigation water conservation, enhance biodiversity, and reduce runoff.

Inspired by Oregon winegrowers interested in seeing us work together, we finally sat down with Demeter a few years ago to compare the Salmon-Safe certification program with the U.S. Biodynamic Farm Standard. We realized there were opportunities to strengthen the Farm Standard in ways that would be even more protective of water quality and habitat.

Over the next two years we worked with Demeter, especially focused on the Farm Standard’s principle of Water and Waterway Conservation, to include additional riparian area management and irrigation water use requirements that were either not covered, or were covered only indirectly, under Biodynamic certification. Water conservation issues are paramount to a Biodynamic farm’s management, and are especially compelling given the severe drought the West Coast now faces. The enhanced Biodynamic Farm Standard was unveiled in September at the National Heirloom Expo in Santa Rosa, California.

In addition to providing improved water conservation guidance to Biodynamic farmers , West Coast Biodynamic growers within the range of wild Pacific salmon now have the ability to use the Salmon-Safe logo in sales and marketing. And there’s no cost for logo use. If your vineyard or farm is located in northern California, Oregon, Washington, or Idaho, you have full use of the Salmon-Safe brand in packaging and promotion. Just contact us at biodynamic@salmonsafe.org for more information.

Salmon Safe Website

Download Salmon Safe/Demeter Infographic

Download Salmon Safe/Demeter Postcard

Agricultural land occupies 50 percent of the earth’s habitable surface, about 41 percent of U.S. land. In the U.S. food production contributes 18 percent of total greenhouse gas emissions.  Concerns of climate change cannot be successfully addressed without addressing agriculture’s contribution to it but, conversely, agriculture can be a potent solution.

Because the underlying theme of the Farm Standard is to generate inputs out of the life of the farm system itself rather than importing them from outside, the heart of a Biodynamic farm’s fertility system is the sequestering and recycling of carbon.  Crop rotation and integration of animal agriculture also assist in reducing petrochemical inputs compared to conventional agricultural practices.  These factors, in addition to Biodynamic farming’s focus on improving soil health, water quality and biodiversity, combine to make it one of the highest paradigms of sustainable agriculture. Demeter’s vision is to heal the planet through agriculture.